What is spirituality concretely in your life? 

It’s really been a search for understanding. 

On my father’s side I come from the Sikh tradition. The Bedis are descendants of Guru Nanak so there always was a strong Sikh influence in my life. My mother on the other hand became a Buddhist and spent the last fifteen years of her life ordained as a Buddhist nun. My earliest and most formative years were spent in Kashmir with many Muslim friends and families. My schools were Christian — Sherwood and St Stephens. And of course the whole ethos in which I lived has been Hindu. So there have been a number of religious influences in my life.  

Through my growing up years I simply was like a sponge, absorbing everything. Then in my first college years I started listening to J. Krishnamurti. Then in Bombay I got familiar with the teachings of Osho. And I always was interested in philosophical questions. How did this all begin? How did we all come here? Is there a God, is there rebirth, is there karma? What’s the truth of it all because everyone is saying different things and not everyone can be right.

I was very heavily influenced by Buddhism because of my mother, and also as a child, I had gone with her to Burma. There, I was ordained as a Buddhist monk with the whole attire — shaven head, orange robe, begging bowl.  

What kind of an experience was it? 

It was a very pleasant though hard experience. It’s completely different from what you are used to doing. We would wake up at four, meditate, have a cup of tea then take a begging bowl and walk through the streets of Rangoon in a file of monks. People would be standing there at five o’clock in the morning to give us food, one handful for every family. All of the monks’ begging bowls would thus get filled. Once back, we would meditate some more before the midday meal — the only meal of the day; then do some studies, then a little time off, then some tea and more meditation, then back to bed. It was very difficult to get used to it initially.

Is the higher self also the essence of who you are?

The essence of who you are is who you choose to be, or how you act and relate to others. The higher self is part of you. The lower self and lower instincts are also part of you. Higher and lower self are part of the essence. High or low, that’s a choice, or it may be dictated by circumstances.

For instance, if somebody is born into a gang-like family where he only sees murder, shooting and a fight for survival on the street at the very basic level, then that’s what he learns and what he perpetuates. It would take a great effort for him to rise into the higher self. Versus someone brought up in an ashram who would automatically think about that.

So the essence of who you are is what you choose to believe and how you choose to act. Not what you profess.

One of the joys of life is its complexity. Nothing is quite black and white. If you take the trouble to think about things, you realize it’s not two sides of a coin, black and white, you can look at it from a prism. Everything has several points of view. Everything has a multidimensional meaning and existence. It’s tiring to think like that all the time. It’s easier to simplify things into simple rights and wrongs.

The reality though is that there ALWAYS is a “but”. It is wrong to kill, but if you do it in the interest of the nation, then it’s ok; it is wrong to lie but if it saves a life, then it’s ok. And so on. There are always “buts” associated with anything you state. So one should not lament the complexity of life, but rather celebrate it.

Good morning friends.  It’s a start of the week and a start of the day.  I wish all will have a very happy days the whole week.  As my one of daily routine, trying to know what is happening around me, so I’m reading a lot before I start my work.  I came across one article and it is very nice.  I want to share it to you.  It says that happiness is never constant.  Maybe some of you believe in this and some are not.  But the important thing is that you know how to make yourself happy. – Indian Express 

Kabir Bedi is an actor who has worked in Bollywood, Hollywood and European television. 

What does spirituality mean to you?

It’s your relationship with the higher self, the cosmos, in a non-material way; also it’s about getting in touch with your inner sense of things. 

What do you mean by higher self?

We exist at various levels: the physical level, the mental level — which categorizes things like “I am a Punjabi, I am an Indian, and I am a father” etc., creating definitions for everything. But the higher self is something different and very subtle. It is our sense of what lies beyond the five senses. Whether we call it intuition or a sense of what the universe is, or what God is, that’s our higher self. When we talk of God of course, there are many ways people imagine what it is. 

What is it for you?

It definitely is not an old man sitting on a throne. I don’t see God as a personal God. But obviously there is an extraordinary intelligence underlying Creation. You see it in the fabric of ever leaf held against the sun, in the beauty of every flower, in the harmony of nature. There is an underlying order and intelligence that has guided this creation in some way. Whatever this intelligence is, you can call it God if you wish. It preceded matter itself. It is the infinity of the cosmos outside and inside us.

Should politicians become vice-chancellors? Retired politicians, those who have been defeated in the elections, need some place of respect. The vice-chancellorship has become a refuge. So make it a law that no politician can become a vice-chancellor.

Universities should be teaching also the latest discoveries, the latest literature, the latest poetry, and the latest in everything. The universities should be sensitive enough: each year there are new novels, new music, new dances, that should become part of the curriculum. Universities have to remain always up to date.

Speaking is an art, and a professor should be an artist. His words should not be simply words; they should carry some poetry in them, some music in them. Each professor and each student should learn a simple meditation method. He can choose one. There are 112 meditation methods; the simplest is vipassana. It is uncomplicated. Make vipassana part of the curriculum; unless a person passes in vipassana he cannot get his degree.

Then it will be real education. Then it will be a liberating factor, because vipassana will liberate you totally from your religions, from your races, from your countries. It will make you an individual. You will not be anymore a member of a mob. You will have your own integrity, your own centeredness, and your own roots.

Meditation is an absolute necessity for humanity to survive. All other subjects should be taught, but no other subject is so important as meditation. But no university is teaching it. If all the graduates from the university come out with a meditative mind, they will change the whole structure and fabric of society.

These are my simple suggestions, absolutely practical; there is nothing utopian about them. -The Times of India

Excerpt from `Death to Deathlessness’. Courtesy: Osho International Foundation. Website: www.osho.com

Good morning friends.  We all know that education is very important to every person.  With a good education we will have a good life.  Education should free us from our past. 

Education is a process of liberation, but it has not been actualized anywhere in the world. 

Liberation means liberating the mind from the past, from theologies and political ideologies, liberating the mind in such a way that when a student comes out of education he is just a clean pure seeker with no prejudice.

That beautiful sentence at the gates of the universities in India, `ya vidya sa vimuktaye’ — `education is that which liberates’ –, shows how man can be unaware. Liberation becomes impossible when the university itself has a certain prejudice, a certain programme to put into the minds of the students. So first dissolve Hindu, Muslim, Jaina, Catholic — these names, from the universities. Secondly: India… has more than one hundred universities, which is meaningless… The result is that the standard of education goes on falling. When you have so many universities you cannot get the best as professors…

Just because somebody has a university degree does not mean that he becomes automatically capable of teaching. Teaching is a totally different art. Passing an examination is one thing; to teach, you need to be articulate, you need to have a vast range of knowledge. I mean not only the textbooks that you have read in the university, you have to be constantly in touch with the growing knowledge.

Thirty years ago somebody passed his master’s degree or became a Ph D and for 30 years he has not bothered about what has happened in his subject. In 30 years human knowledge has increased more than has been possible in the past even 3,000 years. Now a professor who is unaware of these 30 years of development is absolutely incapable.

Conversations are an important way of building up relationships. They could be silent or expressed vocally. Such relationships look beyond a given set of circumstances for a wider, deeper perspective, to understand the truth that lies beneath what is apparent on the surface.

The longer we live and the more experienced we are, our ability to discern the true nature of relationships improves. We are able to take considered decisions on whether to continue with a certain relationship or call it quits without acrimony or hatred.

When we cultivate virtues like patience, compassion, mutual respect and a loving nature, we are well on the way to touching the heart of God, whose reflection we see in other human beings. God invites us through the diversity and wealth of His Creation, to a relationship of universal love. To love His Creation is to love God.

Any relationship that is nurtured for selfish motives and which is vulnerable to feelings of jealousy, hate and suspicion cannot last for it is not founded on unselfish love. And without the ingredient of love, a relationship lacks the spark that can help take it forward towards higher dimensions.

We might remember those who built empires or created elaborate monuments for themselves in the course of remembering inconsequential details of material achievements. Immortal memories ^ in our collective consciousness ^ would however be made up of those acts of kindness and love that came unsolicited, or of those who nudged us on to the path to finding God, to share with us the divine experience of unalloyed bliss. – The Times of India

Good morning friends.  In every relationship whatever kind of relationship is that, we should give the kindness and love to it to get the blossom we wanted.  We should give the best.  There is one good stuff I read and it should be shared to everyone.

Human beings are born in relationship and the lives we lead right from infancy to old age are anchored in relationships. It is in relationship that we grow and achieve adulthood and die in the final peace that comes through dying in a trusting relationship with God.

There are many views on the nature of human relationships. In practice, however, it is the day-to-day relationships that must survive the wear and tear of daily life. Sometimes we find that in order not to sour a relationship, it is better to keep a distance. At other times, a clean break becomes necessary. We need to learn to cultivate relationships in a way that there is room for love, mutual respect and space for the other to grow.

At work the equations are different. In an office or a work environment, in which hierarchy is important, relationships tend to remain at a rather superficial level. There is a certain give and take in official relationships, but they rarely survive once we are out of that particular work situation and environment.

The family, which was once the primary environment for close relationships, is no longer so for many because the sanctity of relationships is under threat. When mistrust and insecurity make demands of family life cloying, we might have to make that extra effort to strike a balance that will restore the pristine nature of the original relationship.

Relationships become our chief means of reaching God. Ritual, common prayer, worship and solidarity are all conventional ways to do this. If we wish to take the relationship still further, we might have to establish a more personal link with God. Sometimes, the give and take of ordinary relationships creates a gentle arc that connects us to the Divine.

If we close our eyes and just observe the thoughts that arise in our mind, it’s the inner awareness which allows us to notice these thought patterns. While it’s easy for us to initially get swept away by the thought patterns and not be able to observe, steadily we can begin to recognize the observer as distinct from the thinking mind and the actor. We can then discover that this awareness is like a mirror — it only reflects what the mind is going through, without any projections of its own.

This inner awareness is who we really are. In our normal life, we are so busy with external stimulus that we lose connection with our true self. As we become more attuned to this awareness, we begin to get closer to understanding our own reality — which in turn allows us to better comprehend the truth out there.

Meditation can be greatly helpful in building deeper clarity as well. When we feel connected to this inner awareness, we realize that this awareness is never born, never dies; it’s vast and is in no way limited to time and space. We can then start to comprehend that this awareness is omnipresent, and governs everything; all of us are made of it, and are not discreet individuals, but just parts of a continuum of awareness.

It’s similar to knowing that God is in each one of us, and we are part of the same whole. Interestingly, this does not take us away from the regular worldly life but helps us live with greater joy and fulfillment.

As we make a conscious effort to stay connected with our inner awareness and our true self, we become better equipped to playing our roles as a businessman, doctor, husband, father or a friend.

This knowledge facilitates us to be like an actor who plays his role with sincerity but stays mindful through the movie that he is really not the character he’s playing — and thus not overly identify with the privileges and adversities of the dramatis personae.  - The Times of India

(Rajiv Vij is a life and executive coach)

It is believed that 20% of what we see is objective data and the rest is a projection, biased by our thoughts and emotions. Neuroscientists highlight that the electrical impulses that reach our retina must also interact with the thinking and the emotional parts of the brain. Thus, we don’t see a mosaic of blue, white and colorless space, but sky and clouds.

As French author Anais Nin said, “We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are” — our thoughts and emotions project their own hues and colors to whatever we observe. We are also quick to dole out intrinsic qualities to things and people, thinking “this is beautiful, that is ugly,” without being cognizant of the fact that these attributes are assigned by our mind. As a Buddhist verse says: “Is anything on earth universally and unanimously recognized as beautiful? For a lover, a beautiful woman is an object of desire; for the hermit, a distraction; for the wolf, a good meal.”

As we gain deeper insight, we learn that the smallest units of energy are just in free flow thought it all. We create a three-dimensional world from what is a continuum of free flowing energy, comprising of electrons and neutrons. Like the fish in the Chinese saying, when we cannot see this continuum, we notice the separate parts of the creation the trees, the animals, the objects —as disjointed from us, which in turn make us feel separate from the whole. The question is would a tree falling in a forest make any sound, if there was no one to hear it? It’s our presence and perception that gives way to the formation of reality as observed by us.

What is the truth then and how do we experience it? The powerful thing is that among all the living beings, only human beings have the ability to comprehend and experience this reality. We can get initiated into grasping this reality by starting to reach out to our inner awareness.

This inner awareness is not the mind, nor our thoughts; it’s the consciousness which allows us to observe the mind, and our thoughts and emotions. It’s this awareness which allows us to remember parts of a dream even when we are asleep.

Good morning friends.  It was said that, not everything we see is we should believe in that.  Sometimes the thing we see is not true.

One fish said to the other:  “Do you believe in this ocean that they talk about?”

This ancient Chinese saying well illustrates how narrow our vision of the world and the universe can be. We see the world from our limited perceptual framework. Despite evolution of our race, an average human mind is severely restricted by what it can perceive through the senses. What we hear is limited by the frequency our ears can process; dogs can hear many higher frequencies and hence, have a very different perception of the sounds out there.

Our sight is limited by the light frequencies our eyes can relate to; since pit vipers can sense heat from infrared rays (like night vision goggles), they must view the same world very differently. If we had a different mechanism, we would be seeing things differently. From our knowledge of science, we know so many things are just not what they appear — earth is not flat, the ground below us is not stationery and the sun doesn’t rise in the east.

The fact is that we see and hear what we can and not what the reality is. The world out there is an unprocessed and formless data, waiting to be interpreted by us. The human nervous system takes in only the minutest proportion of the total energy vibrating in the environment. Research shows that each conscious moment is actually comprised of many much smaller and unconscious “mini” moments, each appearing and disappearing rapidly.

According to Buddhist texts, it takes 17 mind-moments for a cognitive experience to register. As Marshall Glickman describes in his book ‘Beyond the Breath’: “This happens so quickly that we experience a  steady state of consciousness, just as a movie appears seamless even though it’s made of many quickly flashed still photos.” We are so engrossed in this fascinating movie that we are unable to step aside to distinguish between the movie and the reality.

Besides the limitation in our ability to pick up the absolute truth in the first place, our perceptions are further clouded by our own thoughts and emotions.

We take life’s sustenance from our mothers, we take love from our siblings, we take knowledge from our teachers, we take companionship from our friends, we take affection from our pets, we take food from the earth, we take warmth from the sun and that is an endless list. And yet we feel no obligation to all these givers, because we are conditioned to view them as normal life situations.

Our minds are full of suspicion, and more so when we are at the receiving end. The mind works at a furious pace on the implications of taking. One of the fears is of having to return the favor immediately or at some point of time in the future, and the guilt of ingratitude if we are not able to do so. But does it always have to work in that manner? Perplexing, as it may seem, there is a far more complicated system at play which is difficult to decode. Seers therefore stress on abiding by the fundamental principle of giving with humility and taking with gratitude – a simple way to resolving confusing moments in this endless cycle of take and give.

Every one of us, in our lifetime, experiences moments when we give on impulse. We are stirred to give to causes, beggars, friends, strangers. Do these people give us something in return? Do we expect them to? No, but in doing so we experience a strange calm. And when we as takers are full of sadness and shame, are we forgetting to recognize the moment of calm being experienced by the giver?

In this endless game of take and give we should just play along, taking and giving as life asks us to, enjoying the gifts we take and give, without grudging our ‘misfortune’ for being takers, not feeling lesser for having taken or superior for having given. – The Times of India

Good morning friends.   They say that it’s better to give than to receive.  This is true.  You will feel happiness when you give something because you will make the people happy with material or immaterial things.  I believe that we should give with humility and take with gratitude.  After reading one nice article of giving and taking, let me share it also with you as you will like it and learn something to it.

On the verge of crying, I could barely express my gratitude. Saying a simple ‘thank you’ did not seem adequate for the effort taken by a friend in trying to get me a job in a vulnerable phase in my life. And so, thereafter, I must have tried to express my thanks many times over till she simply smiled and said: “It is your time to take.”

Taken aback by the reply I perhaps further complimented her on her goodness, not understanding the full import of the words ‘your time to take’. Life got busy and we lost touch. But somewhere inside me the words ‘a time to take’ sat patiently waiting their turn to play a part in my life. The going was good. I was now in a position to help others. My natural response to all the words of gratitude that were showered on me remained, ‘it is all right, it is just your time to take’.

There is a time to take and there is a time to give. Golden words often quoted, and yet we only want to give, we would rather not take. The puzzled looks I have received when I have gently said ‘it is a time to take’ set me thinking. What is so loaded in the words ‘a time to take’?

Perhaps it is to do with our upbringing. Instilled in us is this value about not taking – it is a favour, about managing alone even in the most difficult of times without seeking support. And yet, taking is one of the most natural acts carried out by each of us since the time we are conceived.

Sweets and gifts symbolize the dispelling of the bitterness and renewal of friendship. Deepawali is a time to throw light on the wisdom you have gained and welcome a new beginning. When true wisdom dawns, it gives rise to celebration. But don’t let celebration make you lose your focus and awareness. To maintain awareness in the midst of celebrations, the ancients created rituals: puja brings sacredness. For the same reason, Deepawali is also the time for pujas that add depth to the festivities by infusing the spiritual aspect.

Celebration includes the spirit of seva or service. Share. In giving, we receive. Celebration also means dissolving all differences and basking in the glory of the atman. Happiness and wisdom have to be spread and that can happen when all come together and celebrate in knowledge.

Deepawali is the celebration of the wisdom thus born. For the one who is not in knowledge, Deepawali comes only once a year, but for the wise, Deepawali is every moment and every day. This Deepawali, celebrate with knowledge and take a sankalpa (intention) to serve humanity.

Light the lamp of love in your heart; the lamp of abundance in your home; the lamp of compassion to serve others; the lamp of knowledge to dispel the darkness of ignorance and the lamp of gratitude for the abundance that the Divine has bestowed on us. Light dispels darkness and when the darkness of ignorance within you is dispelled through the light of wisdom, goodness prevails. – The Times of India

Good morning friends.  When someone asked you, what kind of love you will give to others?  How did you let them feel you love with them?  How can you light the lamp of love to many?    

For an oil lamp to burn, the wick has to be in the oil, yet out of the oil. If the wick is drowned in oil, it cannot bring light. 

Life is like the wick of the lamp; you have to be in the world yet remaining untouched by it. If you are drowned in the materialism of the world, you cannot bring joy and knowledge in your life. By being in the world, yet not drowning in the worldly aspect of it, we can be the light of joy and knowledge. Lamps are lit on this day not just to decorate homes, but also to communicate this profound truth.

Every human being has some good qualities. Every lamp that you light is symbolic of this. By lighting the lamp of wisdom in you, you light up latent values and by acquiring knowledge; you awaken all the facets of your being. When they are lit and awakened, it is Deepawali. Don’t be satisfied with lighting just one lamp; light a thousand, for you need to light many lights to dispel the darkness of ignorance.

Another profound symbolism is in the firecrackers. In life, you often become like a firecracker, waiting to explode with your pent-up emotions, frustration and anger. When you suppress your emotions, cravings, aversions, hatred, you reach a bursting point. Bursting crackers is a psychological exercise to release bottled-up emotions. When you see an explosion outside, you feel similar sensations within you as well. Along with the explosion, there is so much light. Let go of these emotions, so serenity dawns. You can experience newness when you discard these pent-up emotions. Deepawali means to be in the present, so drop the regrets of the past and the worries of the future and live in the moment.

“My son, confidence is good, but overconfidence is bad.”

This advice is very useful to him. Similarly, another parent, a mother, sees that her son is impatient.

He cannot wait for anything to take place in the ordinary course of events, so she gives him advice, with reference to her own experiences:

“My son, life is 1 per cent action, and 99 per cent restraint.”

This advice proves very useful to the son.

Similarly, another parent finds that his daughter does not have the quality of perseverance. She is not able to work unflaggingly with others, therefore, in the light of his experiences he advises his daughter:

“My child, maturity is the ability to live with things you cannot change.”

This advice of the father gives the daughter right guidance. She reviews her actions, and replans her life and then achieves great success in life.

These examples show how important the previous generation is for the new generation. The previous generation bequeaths its wisdom to the new generation. It passes on such formulae as have proved right in the light of practical experiences. In this way the older generation enables the coming generation to refrain from committing the mistakes which people made earlier that led to great losses. The truth is the previous generation is a valuable gift of nature to the present generation.

If our life is like flowing water, in which fresh water continues to be added at every moment, then it will always remain fresh and will never become stale. On the contrary, water that is confined to a closed space, stagnating in the absence of replenishment, will eventually lose its freshness. It will become stale, even harmful. The flowing river is a healthy message given by nature and the experience of many generations of people across continents and cultures would support this analogy. – The Times of India